Frugal sightseeing from ports in Italy

[Georgia Hills]

Traveling on Emerald Princess on first Med. Cruise. I am 70 - wife 69, both retired teachers. Traveling on budget. Need advice on inexpensive ways to see sights from Marseille, Genoa, Livorno, Valletta and Sicily.

[agabbymama]

Good luck! Depends on what your description of "budget" is. Your fitness at schlepping your luggage. (Train, shuttles, etc.)

 

I haven't been to those ports, but on our Med cruise from Rome, Monte Carlo, Livorno, Naples, Santorini, Kusadasi, Mykonos, Athens, Katakolon, Corfu and Venice, NOTHING qualified as BUDGET. From hotels, to food, to tours everything was EXPENSIVE.

 

It didn't help that the dollar was in the toilet, I understand exchange rate is a lot better now, but the average cost of any tour we did was 100 EURO pp.

 

Go to the roll call for your cruise (on this website) and see if there are others that are willing to share tour costs. It makes it a lot more affordable. Transfer from Rome to Civitavecchia (port) was 30 EUR pp for 6 people in a van. All day tour of Athens was 50 EUR pp for 4 of us.

 

You have a lot of research to do. Have a Plan "A", then a Plan "B" for when A falls apart. The be prepared to just go with the flow when everything falls apart. It happened to us frequently. Hope you have a great trip!

[John Bull]

Most economical by far will be by using public transport, particularly trains though not in Malta & probably not in Sicily.

Public transport is very different from the US, much more fast & frequent and used by all sectors of the community and visitors. For example Florence & Pisa from Livorno is very civilised & costs just 18 euros return by train.

 

Concentrate your research on public transport & mebbe ho-ho's (but not the one in Florence due to the limitations of its route).

All very different to places like the Caribbean - there aren't van or economical taxi tours on-spec in most ports, and other than using public transport, or shanks's, or just short point-to-point taxi rides, you need to pre-book tours. As the mama's post, shared tours via your RollCall are normally the most economical way to do that.

 

JB :)

[Georgia Hills]

Thank You, Eleanor and John. I will check Roll Call right away. We are mobile and have no problem with public transportation or walking a mile or two.:)

[mapleleaves]

It's very easy to find free or budget friendly activities if you're willing to go DIY, use public transportation and most importantly are willing to do a little research.

I borrowed travel books from the library, and bought one to take with. There are even books specific to Med cruises (Rick Steves, Ann Vipond).

The books provide info on each port, and the sights and activities available. I also used tripadvisor.com where there is usually great info under TOP QUESTIONs for each town/city.

Edited May 13, 2015 by mapleleaves

[Flygirl25]

Traveling on Emerald Princess on first Med. Cruise. I am 70 - wife 69, both retired teachers. Traveling on budget. Need advice on inexpensive ways to see sights from Marseille, Genoa, Livorno, Valletta and Sicily.

 

What sights do you want to see? I can help with ideas for Genoa especially as I used to live there but also Sicily and Livorno to a certain extent.

[freddiebud]

do a google search - there are always walking tours you can print. and if you have a device, rick steves has some you can download for free.

[Chloe1500]

You can DIY from Marseille, Genoa and Livorno to visit great nearby cities via public transportation, and in Valletta and Palermo, just stay and explore the ports. As others have mentioned Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports is handy for DIY in Marseille and Livorno, but my edition doesn't cover Genoa, Valletta, or Palermo, FYI. Steves' Italy guidebook does have a self-guiding walking tour for Palermo and covers Genoa, and perhaps the library will have that.

Edited May 13, 2015 by Chloe1500

[buggins0402]

OP...which port in Sicily?

[Chloe1500]

OP...which port in Sicily?

 

The Emerald is calling at Palermo on this cruise. Not the OP, but I'm going on the same cruise in a few weeks:)

[Georgia Hills]

Bought Anne Vipond's book and am getting Rick Steve's book from library. As of now we plan to mostly stay in the port areas. We have previously traveled to Barcelona, Nice, Florence, Rome and the surrounding areas, so spending some time in the ports will be nice. Mostly we will take the shuttle to town or walk and then use public transportation. We do not want to use what limited time we have being shuttled from one site to the next. Hopefully this will be a relaxing vacation and if we miss something... I guess we'll have to make another trip. ;)

[bluebelle]

Really there isn't a huge amount to see in Livorno. We teemed up with 4 others and my OH negotiated a price with a driver to take us to Florence, collect us again and take us to Pisa then return to ship. I think it was around 15 dollars a head, and driver was lovely a great combo of Italian Buddhist!

 

Car was spacious and very comfortable. It all just happened as we left the ship on the spur of the moment but was a good day. Probably a bit more now as a few years ago.

[Hlitner]

Frugal travel is not overly difficult if you follow a few basic rules. #1. DIY and do not take any cruise line excursions and few private tours. #2. DIY and do not take any cruise line excursions and few private tours. #3, #4 and #5 are the same as #1.

 

Traveling independent of tours means you should do some pre trip homework and know what you want to see and do and the options to make it happen. DIY involves using public transit, HoHo buses, trains, and even rental cars. Oh, and most important of all you need to do a lot of walking (even if you did take tours) so if you are not in shape for long walking days its actually wise to start doing more walking before you even leave home.

 

As a simple example, lets say you want to to to Aix en Provence while you are in Marseille. Instead of an expensive tour you could use the shuttle bus (or a taxi) into town and then walk to the St Charles Train station. You can then take either a regional bus (the bus station is right outside the train station) or a regional train up to Aix en Provence. If you want to do even more adventurous exploration of Provence you could rent a car (this would cost less then $100 for a day) and drive yourself.

 

Hank

[cristine]

Genoa has a very nice hop on hop off bus system, in the 15 .00 euro range.

[buggins0402]

Valletta is an easy peasy DIY. One can spend their entire day in the main port. And the island has a decent bus system to go further astray. We were also happy to just stay in Genoa, there are some very good art museums. We also had one of our most memorable cruise lunches in Genoa, some yummy pesto pasta. In Marseille we stayed in town...but we had explored Provence on land just a few years earlier. Actually, we enjoyed our day in Marseille..it's just feels more Riviera than Provence. Those three can be very easy frugal ports. Marseille can be switched out for a Provence experience with the cost of a train ride. Livorno is also just a train ride away from Florence, just a bit higher on the difficulty scale for a relaxing day.

[hlperez]

I am going on the same itinerary on 6/6, when are you sailing?

 

We always prefer to do our own sightseeing at our own pace, and hardly ever taken excursions. If it's the first time in a place, we usually stay in town to see it. If we've been there before, we'll take a bus/train/hire a car to somewhere nearby. This is doable in all these ports, providing you are able to walk (as mentioned above). If walking is difficult, the Ho-Ho buses are always a good and reasonable option to see the main sights in each port.

 

In Marseille you have to take the shuttle or get a taxi into town. It's too far to walk. As mentioned above, you can find the main sights to see for this and the other ports on Trip Advisor. There is also a useful page on each port on Cruise Critic, under "Destinations".

 

In Genoa, you can walk into town in a few minutes. The Ho-Ho bus also picks up just outside the port. Same info applies to Palermo.

 

In Livorno you have to take the shuttle or a taxi into town or the train station. We have been there several times. We've taken the train to Florence, Pisa and Lucca on different occasions. Make sure you know the train timetable for the return. This time we have decided to stay in Livorno and I have downloaded and printed a walking tour of the "Little Venice" area, which is supposed to be picturesque and interesting.

 

In Valleta you can take a right from the port, and after a few minutes there's a lift/elevator up into town on the left (costs EUR 1 to go up). The town is small and walkable.

 

I also try to download a map for each town (either to app, or printed) so I have a sense of where everything I want to see is.

 

Hope you'll find the above helpful.

 

Hazel:)

[Georgia Hills]

Thank you to everyone! Hazel, we are cruising on the 6th also.

[syesmar]

Hi Georgia Hills!

 

I'll list what we did, mostly DIY:

 

Marseille: Boat tour of the Calanques (begrudgingly paid $14 each for shuttle from ship to town in order to make the tour....sometimes you may need to just pay for a taxi or shuttle for time's sake, although on certain days there is a free port shuttle...and for those willing to walk to the stop, a cheap local bus).

 

Livorno: Florence or Pisa by train (again, better to take a taxi---if you can find one, get off the ship early!---from the port to the train station rather than the port-bus-to-local-bus-to-train-station option). It has been recommended on these boards that purchasing your train ticket in advance---while not required---will save you time waiting in (oftentimes long) lines at the station.

 

Valletta: HoHo Bus. There are 2 lines, we took the one that circled the island. Mdina was a highlight! The buses were older (in 2008), but we had a fabulous day & had some time to spend in Valetta, too. Beautiful place!

 

Sicily: went to the beach in Palermo by public bus and also walked a little around town. We were in Messina on a Sunday the first time....the town was shut down & we opted for the HoHo. On Sunday there was little to see and do except the clock ....wished I had gone to Taormina ($27 with Roll Call) or Mt Etna ($59 ship's tour). The next time we went to Mt Etna and had a wonderful time.

 

(You're probably aware of how to Search the Forums, but just in case for those who may not...to the right of the Forum Tools, under the Forum's Page Numbers, is the Search option. Specifics on how to plan for all of our suggestions will be found in detail).

 

Hope you have a wonderful time! Thanks to you and your wife for your years of service and dedication to teaching. Enjoy your cruise!

Edited May 14, 2015 by syesmar

[katsmom1]

In some of the cities you mention, there are free group walking tours (tip only) and/or Greeter services (donation only, personal walking tours given by local volunteers).

 

There are Greeter services in Marseille and Florence.

 

Greeters Marseille- http://www.marseilleprovencegreeters.com/en/

Greeters Florence - http://florence.greeters.info/index.php?id=339

 

There are free group walking tours in Florence http://www.florencefreetour.com/

 

Free group walking tour in Palermo/Sicily- http://www.personalguidesicily.com/tours/palermo-free-walking-tour.html

 

Free group walking tour in Valletta - http://www.colourmytravel.com/valletta-centre.html

 

 

Some of these have reviews on their facebook pages and/or Tripadvisor.com, too.

Edited May 15, 2015 by katsmom1
added info

[SpokaneDan]

Bought Anne Vipond's book and am getting Rick Steve's book from library. ;)

 

Bingo! I am a proud "semi frugal" cruiser :), partly b/c there are 5 of us traveling. If not careful a single shore excursion would blow up our budget. Rick Steve's Med. Port book is invaluable and designed specifically for DIY. It requires a lot of reading and planning. I found it so helpful that I am buying a Kindle version to have it on my finger tip at each port. Have fun planning!

[roothy123]

Excellent advice above. We almost always do touring on our own in Europe and except in a few places have rarely spent much money. Just keep in mind that using public transportation requires local money and often in small denominations. You also need to pre plan as others mentioned and make sure you have good maps available. I write for info from tourist info bureaus too.

 

We like this site - tomsportguides.com plus also inyourpocket.com can be good, especially for eastern Europe if you ever get there. They update their info every 3 months and put the info in guides you can download.

 

For Valetta get up early to see entry into the port If you are a photographer - walls of town are very pretty if light is good. Then spend a little time in town and if it's too crowded for your taste find the buses and find one that goes to Marsasloxxs - pretty boats there and a few vendors. Sorry, smartphone won't spell that correctly but Google and you'll find it - town with colorful boats.

Edited May 19, 2015 by roothy123

[gailjen]

In Livorno the shuttle bus from the ship to town is €5 return and then catch the bus for €15 return to Pisa

Or €30 for Pisa & Florence.

http://www.tuscanybus.com

 

Dear Gail,

Thank you for your enquiry. To book the TuscanyBUS service to Pisa on 11th August you can go directly to their website at http://www.tuscanybus.com

To get to the bus stop you need to catch the shuttle bus which costs 5 euros per person.

 

We also use http://www.cruisingexcursions.com who do some very reasonable trips for example Rome on your own £35

Edited June 9, 2015 by gailjen

[AVAD]

In Livorno the shuttle bus from the ship to town is €5 return and then catch the bus for €15 return to Pisa

Or €30 for Pisa & Florence.

http://www.tuscanybus.com

 

Dear Gail,

Thank you for your enquiry. To book the TuscanyBUS service to Pisa on 11th August you can go directly to their website at http://www.tuscanybus.com

To get to the bus stop you need to catch the shuttle bus which costs 5 euros per person.

 

We also use http://www.cruisingexcursions.com who do some very reasonable trips for example Rome on your own £35

 

Have you used this bus service and how did you like it? We are docking in Livorno in September and want to go to Pisa. We took the train several years ago to Florence when we were there but that involved taking the ship shuttle and public bus before we got to the train, and this seems like it would be easier. Does the bus travel every day even if it isn't full?

Thanks

[CathyCruises]

In Livorno the shuttle bus from the ship to town is €5 return and then catch the bus for €15 return to Pisa

Or €30 for Pisa & Florence.

http://www.tuscanybus.com

 

Dear Gail,

Thank you for your enquiry. To book the TuscanyBUS service to Pisa on 11th August you can go directly to their website at http://www.tuscanybus.com

To get to the bus stop you need to catch the shuttle bus which costs 5 euros per person.

 

We also use http://www.cruisingexcursions.com who do some very reasonable trips for example Rome on your own £35

I have been told that the shuttle is €12 return per person. For €25, you can put six people in a cab at the port and go straight to the train station, so about €4/pp. I'm not sure how much the train to Pisa is, however, but easy to check

[gailjen]

Have you used this bus service and how did you like it? We are docking in Livorno in September and want to go to Pisa. We took the train several years ago to Florence when we were there but that involved taking the ship shuttle and public bus before we got to the train, and this seems like it would be easier. Does the bus travel every day even if it isn't full?

Thanks

 

We are planning to use in August so will come back and update you then

 

There a three times at 10,12 & 1.40pm but do check your own date as these might be different.

 

Cathycruises, it was €5 euros a few weeks ago when a friend was there, hopefully it won't go up. The shuttle is provided by the port authorities.